April 4, 2024

GRAMBLING’S DONTE’ JACKSON RECIPIENT OF THE 2024 BEN JOBE AWARD
Presented annually to the top minority head coach in division I college basketball.

PHOENIX, AZ – Grambling’s Donte’ Jackson is the recipient of the 2024 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year award have been announced.  The award is presented annually to the top minority head coach in division I college basketball.

After guiding Grambling to a historic season, Donte Jackson becomes the first head coach to win the Jobe award twice (won the award in 2018).

Not only did Jackson lead Grambling to its first ever NCAA tournament appearance, his team capitalized once they got there. The Tigers rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat Montana State in overtime in their First Four matchup.

Grambling won the SWAC regular season championship for the second consecutive season, finishing with a 24-9 record and defeated nemesis Texas Southern in the SWAC conference tournament title game.

Jackson has a 120-102 record in seven seasons at Grambling, including an 80-42 mark in SWAC games.

"Donte’ Jackson has re-written the narrative about Grambling basketball in the division I era," said Angela Lento, Vice President of CollegeInsider.com. "Prior to his arrival the program struggled for decades, finishing above .500 in conference play just 8 times in 40 years. He has taken Grambling from second-division status to the top of the SWAC. Donte’ Jackson is the best coach in Grambling’s division I history."

The Ben Jobe award is named in honor of one the most iconic coaches in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee, and South Carolina State.

His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.

Coach Jobe passed away on March 10, 2017.

The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.

2024 BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS